Global coal use may have peaked in 2014, says latest IEA World Energy Outlook

The world may never again use as much coal as during a peak in 2014, according to the latest World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The weighty annual outlook is one of the most widely respected and eagerly anticipated publications among energy analysts and policymakers. The 2018 edition runs to 662 pages and contains the IEA’s latest view of how the future of global energy might play out, depending on political and societal choices.

Its prominence means the report is also a frequent target of criticism for having often failed to anticipate the rate or direction of change.

In its main scenario – based on existing national policies, plus pledges and targets not yet codified in law – the 2018 outlook points to a 25% increase in energy demand by 2040. This growth, largely driven by Asia, would be twice as large in the absence of continued improvements in energy efficiency, it says....

On the face of it, it appears that coal consumers are switching to alternative fuel sources, rather than production maxing out and in terminal decline.One change in policy or a new way of extracting energy from coal using a cleaner method than burning it, could cause an increase in production to surpass the levels in 2014.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.:AnonymousOur whole economy is based on planned obsolescence.Planned obsolescence, one of the largest contributors to the man made element of climate change, but the one least discussed: dolanbaker

Coal puts out a plethora of nasty stuff so the fact that it is leveling off is better than it continuing to grow IMHO. However it is an exaggeration to suggest all of the demand that would have been met by coal is instead met by renewables. Much of this demand is going to be met by natural gas as well. And methane leaks nullify much of the reduced CO2 savings by switching from coal to natural gas.

Natural GasSurging growth in the global gas trade – underpinned by the shale revolution in the United States and the rise of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – continues to accelerate the transformation of global gas markets. In the New Policies Scenario (NPS), natural gas demand in 2040 has been revised up by almost 100 billion cubic meters compared with last year’s outlook. The bulk of the revision is due to China, where gas demand grows rapidly, reflecting strong policy efforts to improve air quality. Developing economies in Asia account for half of the total demand growth through to 2040. Unlike other fossil fuels, natural gas continues to make inroads in almost all advanced economies.

In the United States, ample availability of gas at affordable prices fosters gas demand growth. In Korea, gas demand increases as the use of nuclear and coal in the power mix declines. In the NPS, China soon becomes the world’s largest gas-importing country, with net imports approaching the level of the EU by 2040. China today is also on the verge of surpassing Japan as the largest LNG importer. Gas demand grows in most parts of the world in the NPS.

The U.S. oil and gas industry emits 13 million metric tons of methane from its operations each year — nearly 60 percent more than current estimates and enough to offset much of the climate benefits of burning natural gas instead of coal, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The study estimated that the leak rate from U.S. oil and gas operations is 2.3 percent, significantly higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimate of 1.4 percent. While the percentages seem small, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the additional emissions would erase the climate advantages of burning natural gas instead of coal during the period when methane’s effects on the climate are most pronounced. Though half of methane vanishes in 8.3 years, the Environmental Defense Fund says it is still 84 times as powerful as carbon dioxide over 20 years. The EPA uses a broader time frame and says methane’s global warming effect is 28 to 36 times that of carbon dioxide over the course of a century.

“Natural gas losses are a waste of a limited natural resource, increase global levels of surface ozone pollution, and significantly erode the potential climate benefits of natural gas use,” the study’s authors wrote. They added that, over 20 years, the climate effects of emitting 13 million metric tons of methane annually “roughly equals” the carbon dioxide emissions from all U.S. coal-fired power plants operating in 2015.

The study, which relied largely on companies willing to cooperate, cautioned that its estimates could be too low. It said that the worst actors were most likely to opt out of taking part in the study. In addition, the study has not updated measurements of local distribution systems, which could be emitting substantial volumes as well.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said “methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the uncertainty over the level of methane emitted to the atmosphere raises questions about the extent of the climate benefits that gas can bring.” It said, “One critical question is the extent to which methane emissions along the gas value chain negate the climate advantages of gas.”

Just for example coal burning in technologically advancing regions is continuing to expand. This includes but is not limited to China, India, Indonesia in Asia and most of South America and Africa.

Sure a little of that expansion will come from expanded 'renewables' but lets be realistic here, people in poor countries need the cheapest power they can get. Cheapest power come from burning stuff. Cheapest stuff to acquire and burn are generally fossil fuels as most countries have already nearly maxed out their biofuel production rates.

Translation, coal is cheap and that is what Uganda or Brazil or Indonesia need to pay for building and electrification of their grids so that their Joe6P can have cheap power and like them as governing authorities. It takes a lot more than a couple year long blip to call peak on anything, as those who have been here the longest should well know by now.

I should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, write, balance accounts, build a wall, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, pitch manure, program a computer, cook, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I expect Peak Coal will be short lived, humanity rarely gives up on a low cost energy source unless it can be replaced by an equally low cost energy source ala America’s current switching to natural gas. And as we’ve seen with American oil production, the old “peak” which has inconceivably been exceeded 50 years later, shows we can predict trends but not absolutes.

It's from the IEA, not exactly pillars of starry eyed optimism. Just the opposite. The IEA has a track record of massive pessimism when it comes to renewables and a bias for projecting growing fossil fuels.

The IEA has been predicting the same thing with stubborn consistency in every single one of the last 15 outlooks, being proven breathtakingly wrong every time.

On the surface, the release of the IEA World Energy Outlook today brought shockingly bad news: the growth of renewable energy capacity added each year is likely to hit a brick wall, as of now, after more than a decade of explosive growth. There goes our best hope of decarbonizing the power sector and driving down global emissions. Not really though. It’s just the IEA, arguably the world’s most prominent energy analyst, doing what they do every year: putting out a tremendously pessimistic take on the future prospects of renewable energy.

The IEA remains in denial about the renewable energy revolution that is sweeping the world. The agency continues to project zero growth in the market size of key renewable energy technologies for the next years and decades. This is a prediction it has made with stubborn consistency in every single one of at least the past 15 annual outlooks, being proven massively, breathtakingly wrong every time.

For example, in the World Energy Outlooks published in 2002-2010, the annual solar power additions in the year 2015 were projected at 1-5 gigawatts, while the actual market size that year was 50 gigawatts – an astounding 10 times as high as the IEA projected just 5 years prior.

The IEA is projecting coal use in developing countries to increase in use. However this is offset by falls in advanced countries, falls in China, and higher efficiency coal plants. China is currently engaging in a shift to diversify it's power sector. It is increasing natural gas imports while building nuclear plants and renewables in a bid to diversify away from coal and improve it's air quality problem.

CoalIn Europe and North America, coal demand remains under pressure due to low electricity demand growth, strong uptake of renewables-based capacity and, in the United States, the availability of inexpensive natural gas. Nonetheless, elsewhere coal demand could be more resilient than some expect, especially among developing economies in Asia.

Coal demand in 2040 in the New Policies Scenario (NPS) has been revised down by some 3% compared with last year’s outlook. Downward revisions have been made for industrial coal use, as the shift from coal to alternative fuels in industry speeds up, and in the buildings sector where coal use almost disappears. Overall coal demand for power generation declines slightly in the NPS as moderate growth in coal-fired generation is offset by improvements in plant efficiencies.

Key TrendsIn the NPS, falling consumption in China, European Union and United States is balanced by rising demand in India and Southeast Asia.

China is gradually diversifying away from coal. Recently, China has been able to meet growth in primary energy consumption even as its coal consumption slightly declined. Behind this trend lies the very rapid growth in the consumption of all other forms of primary energy, especially hydropower, nuclear power, natural gas and renewable power.

"In 2017, China overtook South Korea to become the second-largest LNG importer. The first place was taken by Japan. It is estimated that in 2019, China will become the largest natural gas importer around the globe." According to a report released by the Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute, it is estimated that China's natural gas consumption in 2018 will reach 277 billion cubic meters, surging 17 percent, or 40 billion cubic meters, on a year-on-year basis. This will account for 8 percent of the nation's primary energy consumption.

Coal-fired electricity generation in China, the world’s largest coal consumer, is expected to remain flat through 2040, according to EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEO2017). Other fuels, such as renewables, natural gas, and nuclear power, are expected to make up increasing shares of China’s electricity generation. Coal remains China’s largest source of electricity, accounting for more than 72% of the nation’s electricity generation in 2015. In the Reference case of EIA’s long-term international energy projections, China’s coal share of generation steadily decreases to nearly 50% by 2040, as generation shares from renewables and nuclear both increase.

Yeah sure, for rich western coutries where abundant gas and massive energieweind subsidies flow coal is declining. Rest of the world, not so much.

II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Subjectivist wrote:Yeah sure, for rich western coutries where abundant gas and massive energieweind subsidies flow coal is declining. Rest of the world, not so much.

Globally coal consumption fell in 2015 and 2016. That means the increase in coal use in the rest of the world was insufficient to offset decreases in coal consumption in China and the developed world. There was a small increase in global coal consumption in 2017. However this was insufficient to offset the prior declines. IE, we still have yet to exceed the amount of coal we consumed in 2013.

Also, not all coal capacity is equal. Newer technologies are more efficient than older technologies. Coal capacity has continued to increase year after year. However the older subcritical type peaked in 2015. The growing capacity numbers are coming from more efficient plant types such as supercritical, ultra-supercritical, CHP, etc. That means that it is not necessarily true that increasing coal capacity means increasing coal consumption.

Despite the increase in generation, investments in coal-fired power capacity declined sharply in 2017 from over USD 90 billion in 2016 to around USD 60 billion due to a slowdown in commissioning of new coal plants. Moreover, the capacity of new coal-fired power plants receiving final investment decisions in 2017 fell to just over 30 GW, the lowest level in over 15 years and only 35% of that registered in 2015. The slowdown in investment decisions during the past two years has been led mostly by China, followed by India and Southeast Asia.

Subcritical units have efficiencies of between 33% and 37%; i.e. between 33% and 37% of the energy in the coal is converted into electricity. Efficiency ratings for supercritical coal plants range from 37% to 40%. [Efficiency ratings for ultra-supercritical coal plants range from 44% to 46%.]

It is reasonable to expect CHP applications to operate at 65-75% efficiency.